The present invention relates to bed structures, and is particularly concerned with a bed foundation for supporting a mattress or the like.
A conventional bed or mattress support typically consists of a foundation unit or box spring unit placed on top of a metal bed frame having side rails, cross members, and legs. A typical box spring unit consists of a base having a wooden perimeter with wooden cross slats which are nailed, glued, or stapled together, metal spring units attached to the cross slats, and a suitable cover. The separate metal base frame and foundation unit are cumbersome and involve high labor costs in manufacture. Wood is also highly flammable and current construction methods are incapable of meeting new U.S. flammability standards.
Plastic bedding foundations to replace a conventional wood and metal foundation have been proposed in the past. U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,775 of Mauro et al. describes a foundation which has a top deck member, spaced side walls, and spaced end walls which may be formed integrally or separately out of plastic material by compression molding, injection molding, or thermo-forming. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0069462 of Gaboury et al. describes a similar bed foundation made of blow-molded plastic. The foundation is made up from separate components which can be secured together without use of tools. This makes shipping easier and less expensive.